This Broken Home
by arielbelle
Summary: People do things that they think back and wonder 'was it worth it' The answer is usually no. Frankie finds out something and it ruins everything and leaves her with a broken heart. Rated M for language.


Disclaimer: I don't own The Middle. I don't own the characters or anything. The idea of breaking Frankie and Mike up came because I have went through something similar this past year. I don't think Frankie and Mike would ever get divorced and I think they're really happy with each other. I don't want readers to dislike Mike, but he seemed more likely to not think things through. Subsequent chapters will involve Axl, Sue, and Brick's reactions and thoughts and life. Things change quite a bit when your parents divorced. Please review. Thank you.

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"I can't hear you." Axl teases Brick as they're sitting in the back seat. Brick had just spent all of ten minutes trying to explain to Axl that Dr. Frankenstein wasn't actually Frankenstein. Axl had spent all of ten minutes ignoring Brick and pretending to be interested in the drink he held in his hand. Brick threw his arms up and yelled "I give up!" and then in a whispered voice he repeated "I give up." Axl smirked and glanced over at Sue who was doing a great job of ignoring both brothers. Axl poked Sue hard in the chest and laughed when Sue yelled "Axl! Mom, Axl poked me!"

In the front of the car, Frankie Heck was over her children's behavior. In particular she was over Axl's bad behavior. Sue was a whiner and Axl was a bully and Brick was a quitter. She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Mike. Mike's face was tight indicating his nerves were just as shot as hers. Instead of relying on Mike to say something, Frankie yelled "SHUT UP!" The tone of voice she used must have worked, because all three kids shut up.

After dinner, Axl and Brick parked themselves in front of the T.V. They weren't necessarily agreeing with each other, but Frankie didn't care. They were quieter than they had been for days. Deciding on taking a bath, Frankie gathered up her clothes. She peeked in on Sue who was on the phone with Brad and Carly (Frankie would never understand the lure of three-way calling) and headed to the bathroom. After soaking in the tub for half an hour and not having any kids barging in on her, Frankie felt as if she had been at a spa instead of her own home. She dressed and walked into the garage to tell Mike that she was going to go to bed early and stopped when she realized Mike was on the phone.

"I can't come tonight." There was a pause and Mike said "No, it's too late. My wife will go to sleep soon, but she'd suspect something if I didn't go to bed." He leaned up against his tool-bench. "I love you too, Sherri." His voice sounded lovey-dovey, something he hadn't had in his voice since they'd been newlyweds. Frankie felt her heart shatter. They didn't know a Sherri together, so he'd met a Sherri by himself. Blinking back tears, Frankie went to the bedroom.

Half an hour later, Mike came to bed. He didn't want to wake Frankie up, but he kissed her forehead anyway. He smiled to himself and rolled over and went to sleep. Frankie had been faking sleeping. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd sleep again for a while. The tears came quicker now, but Frankie couldn't stop herself. She grabbed Mike's cell phone quietly from his nightstand and opened it. In his call logs were many, many calls to 'Don'. They didn't know a Don. In addition, there were many texts from 'Don'. The texts had been chopped up; he had obviously been deleting the things that Sherri had been saying to him that weren't something he'd want his wife to find out. The newest text from Sherri/Don said "Friday was fun. Xo". Shaking her head, Frankie laid back down.

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It was Saturday, but Frankie had to get the kids out of the house. She sent Sue to Carly's, Axl to Sean's, and Brick to his new friend Peter's house. She begged all of them to spend the night with their friends and Sue and Axl took the bait. Brick however was skeptical but Peter's parents said it was okay. The kids all packed and gone, Frankie took a seat at the table. Mike walked in, nursing a beer. Frankie frowned; it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. Mike saw Frankie sitting there and walked over.

"Everything okay?" He asked and Frankie shook her head. She held in a sob and Mike sat down. "Frankie, you can talk to me about anything." She threw Mike's phone at him on the table. He raised his eyebrows, trying not to jump to conclusions. "Mike, who is Don? Why did Don have so much fun Friday? Didn't you go mow your dad's yard Friday night?" Frankie's voice was shaking and Mike frowned. "Frankie…" He began, but Frankie cut him off. "I heard you on the phone last night with Sherri. You love her, do you?" She said, determined to look into his eyes the whole time. Mike looked down at his hands, which were shaking. "I… Frankie… I do love her. But I love you too." Frankie shook with rage. "YOU LOVE HER. IF YOU LOVED ME YOU WOULDN'T LOVE HER!" She shouted, slamming her first down on the table. Shaking her head, Frankie demanded "I want a divorce. I don't want to know how long you've been seeing her, fucking her, or whatever it is you've been doing. I just want to be done. I will move out because I don't want this piece of shit house. In our divorce, I will state I want shared custody. I don't want to take the kids from you, but I don't want to be in this anymore. I am going to move to mom's for a bit, and then I'll find a better job and a get an apartment or a house or something." She grabbed some stuff that she knew was hers and she stalked off into the bedroom.

On the bed, Frankie threw clothes and personal items into a suitcase. Mike walked in, his eyes red. _Well good. He needs to cry, lying cheating son of a bitch_. She thought, grabbing more of her clothes and unceremoniously dumping them into the suitcase. He sobbed for a second and said "Don't go Frankie. I'm so sorry. I should have been stronger, I should have resisted. I never meant for this to happen." Frankie felt bad for him for a nanosecond but tossed a flip-flop at him. "You didn't want me to find out. That's the ONLY thing you didn't mean to happen." She packed more possessions and then went to load it in the car. Legally, the car was in her name. She tossed a look back at Mike.

"I'll send someone for more clothes. I'll be back myself tomorrow. We will sit down and tell the kids everything. I won't skate around this Mike. You cheated. You can't lie to them. They'll find out anyway." She shook her head as he sat down on one of the rusted chairs on the front porch, his head in his hands. She got into the car and drove to her mom's house.

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Mike cried until he couldn't cry anymore. He called Sherri and told her to never call him again. He told her that he lost Frankie because of their relationship and that he couldn't bare it anymore. He loved Frankie and Sherri had been a distraction. This didn't make things better for anyone, but at least Mike could focus on winning Frankie back. One way or another, he would win Frankie back. Since the moment they'd gotten married he'd known without a doubt that she was the one for him. He had guessed before they got married, but he was quite positive after they got married. He sighed as he packed up Sue's stuff. He needed something to do, and he wouldn't fight Frankie for the kids. He wanted them on the weekends, but she could have them the rest of the week if that's what she desired. Once the majority of Sue's stuff was packed, he began packing Brick's. He couldn't pack much of Axl's until he knew what was Axl's clean and dirty stuff, so that would wait until the next morning. Much, much later, Mike packed the rest of Brick's books. He was on his seventh beer and felt a bit drunk, but he kept moving. Moving kept him from falling apart.

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The next day, Axl was the first kid to arrive at the house. Instead of letting Axl to his room, a red-eyed Mike made him sit on the couch. Frankie arrived shortly after Axl. Axl couldn't figure out what was going on, but he wasn't the child who worried about things. He sat back and watched the rest of the rerun football game and waited on Sue and Brick to get home. Both Sue and Brick arrived home around the same time. As all three children sat on the couch and Mike and Frankie sat down across from each other, Sue began to panic. This time though, she was right when she said "Oh no! You're going to get a divorce aren't you?!" Frankie calmed Sue down with a look.

Frankie sighed, knowing she would be the one doing the talking. She shot Mike a look and then looked at her three children. Sue was already bawling, Axl seemed disinterested and Brick looked as if he was going to read a book that didn't exist. He continued to stare at his feet as Frankie began. "Last night your father and I made the decision to separate. Because of what brought on this separation, I have decided to move out. Yes Sue, we are getting a divorce. Mike, would you like to chime in here?" She asked, her voice conveying that she didn't want the kids to think worse of him. He nodded and looked at his children. Their lives were messed up because he was an idiot. He rubbed his face with his palm before starting.

"I love you all very much. Please don't think that I don't. I want you all to know that I would do anything for you. But… your mother and I are divorcing and it's my fault." His voice waivered as tears came to his eyes. All three kids sat still, Sue sobbing. They were watching him with scared eyes. He continued on "I cheated on your mom. I met someone else and I was weak. I didn't think of my life, your lives, or your mother. I truly ruined the best thing that has ever happened to me. Now I have to pay for it." Mike stopped because he couldn't say anything else; he couldn't even speak. He reduced himself to silent sobs.

All three kids were crying. Sue was incoherent. Frankie frowned, tears streaming down her face as well. "Your father and I have decided that you can stay with me at Grandma's during the week and your fathers over the weekend. Each of you can help me clean out your rooms here other than enough clothes to last a weekend each weekend. You will also get your stuff you want to take to Grandmas. Then we will come back next weekend for you to see your father." She finished and before they could argue, complain, cry harder, whatever, Frankie left and went to the bedroom. Mike followed her.

"Frankie… come back. Please, don't leave." He pleaded and she ignored him. He sat on the bed and watched her pack her stuff. She finished grabbing everything that was hers in record time and was ready to leave. Axl, Sue, and Brick were just about done as well. Mike stood in the window, watching as his family packed the stuff into the tiny car and pulled out of the driveway. His heart went with them. _What have I done?!_


End file.
